uSwitch: iPhone 6 was best-selling smartphone in 2015

Apple and Samsung only manufacturers to feature in top 10 list, with iPhones holding six of the positions

The Apple iPhone 6 (16GB) was the best-selling smartphone in 2015, with handsets from the manufacturer taking six of the top 10 positions.

This is according to price comparison firm uSwitch.com, based on provisional sales via its website up to December 23, which saw Apple dominate the top four places.

Top ten best-selling handsets in 2015

Despite being released in September 2014, the iPhone 6 (16GB) topped the rankings, followed by the even older iPhone 5s (16GB) from a year earlier.

The 64GB variant of 2014’s release was third, followed by last September’s release, the iPhone 6s (16GB) in fourth position.

Samsung’s first smartphone in the top 10 list, the Galaxy S6 (32GB) was the fifth best-selling handset of 2015, followed by the iPhone 5c (8GB) in sixth and iPhone 6s (64GB) in seventh.

Samsung wins phablet battle

However, Samsung did gain the title for the best-selling phablet, with the Galaxy Note 5 in eighth position outselling the iPhone 6s Plus, which doesn’t feature in the top 10 at all.

Another phablet, the Galaxy Note 4 from October 2014 and Galaxy S5 (16GB) from April of the same year completed the top 10 list.

Apple authority ‘unrivalled’

uSwitch.com mobile analyst Rob Kerr said: “Apple’s authority in the UK mobile market is unrivalled. It’s the only manufacturer that can still attract queues days ahead of its major launches. It even makes Samsung look like a perennial underachiever.

“So why do we like iPhones so much? The fatally attractive combination includes a sleek design, right down to the packaging, and an intuitive and evolving user experience, plus Apple’s colossal brand power, and an ecosystem that locks users in to its TV, music and payment systems. If you’re already an Apple convert, you’ll know it’s hard to escape once you start buying into the brand.

“As our bestseller list shows, Samsung is the only other mobile maker to have garnered some of that mass appeal, but it’s still always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Ranging the Note 5 in the UK could have pushed Samsung further up the bestseller charts, but it backed the wrong horse, believing demand would be tipped towards the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.”